Disposable sheet style dispensers are well-known in the art for dispensing individual folded sheet products such as facial tissues, hand sheets, wet wipes, or the like. Disposable sheets include single or multi-use (i.e. semi-durable) sheets with a short lifespan that are not considered durable over an extended number of uses.
In general, disposable sheet dispensers typically include a container with a stack or clip of pre-folded sheets disposed within the container. The sheets may be c-folded, v-folded, interfolded, multi-folded, or flat so that once the top sheet in the clip is withdrawn, the underlying sheet is individually presented for subsequent use.
Pop-up and reach-in dispensing style containers or cartons are the two principle types of cartons used for dispensing folded sheet products. Pop-up type dispensing cartons permit the sheets to be dispensed through an opening, such as in a top wall of the carton, to allow partial withdrawal of the next successive sheet upon pulling sheets one at a time from the carton. Reach-in dispensing cartons permit removal of one or more sheets at one time. A third type of carton is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,074, which provides for simultaneous pop-up dispensing of one sheet at a time as well as dispensing of a plurality of sheets as a group.
At least one drawback with contemporary dispensing cartons is that a consumer can only open the carton in one way. Whether the consumer purchases the pop-up or reach-in type dispenser or the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,074, a choice of openings is not offered. Also, the latter two types expose the sheets to the environment at all times whether desired or not.